Means for regulating the escape of wire from a dead block onto an accumulator

ABSTRACT

A wire receiving mechanism receives wire from any line wherein it is desired to accumulate such wire in coils for any further purpose. The wire so received may come from a wire drawing machine, a high carbon finished spring wire apparatus, a continuous wire coating set-up or any other source. The wire may be accumulated in neat coils for delivery to the customer, for storage, for transfer to another operating station or for any other reason. The receiving mechanism comprises a rotating shaft which carries with it a flyer arm to which is mounted a roller system for placing successive rings of wire onto a non-rotating, dead block. A pay-off assembly is mounted on and rotates with the flyer arm. The assembly may include a roller which contacts and rides on the surface of the dead block, contact being maintained by use of a torsion spring. As the flyer rotates through one revolution, thereby placing one ring of wire on the dead block, the pay-off roller also makes one revolution, thereby allowing one ring of wire to pay off the dead block onto the apparatus which accumulates such wire in neat coils.

United States Patent Stark [54] MEANS FOR REGULATING THE ESCAPE OF WIREFROM A DEAD BLOCK ONTO AN ACCUMULATOR ['72] Inventor: Marvin L. Stark,Lexington, Mo.

[451 Oct. 3, 1972 Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz AssistantExaminer-Edward J. McCarthy Attorney-Melville, Strasser, Foster &Hoffman [57] ABSTRACT A wire receiving mechanism receives wire from anyline wherein it is desired to accumulate such wire in coils for anyfurther purpose. The wire so received may come from a wire drawingmachine, a high carbon finished spring wire apparatus, a continuous wirecoating set-up or any other source. The wire may be accumulated in neatcoils for delivery to'the customer, for storage, for transfer to anotheroperating station or for any other reason. The receiving mechanismcomprises a rotating shaft which carries with it a flyer arm to which ismounted a roller system for placing successive rings of wire onto anon-rotating, dead block. A pay-off assembly is mounted on and rotateswith the flyer arm. The assembly may include a roller which contacts andrides on the surface of the dead block, contact being maintained by useof a torsion spring. As the flyer rotates through one revolution,thereby placing one ring of wire on the dead block, the pay-off rolleralso makes one revolution, thereby allowing one ring of wire to pay offthe dead block onto the apparatus which accumulates such wire in neatcoils.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDoma m2 INVENTOR/S WARM/V Z. SUI/PK)1 //1zan ATTOR N EYS MEANS FOR REGULATING THE ESCAPE OF WIRE FROM ADEAD BLOCK ONTO AN ccuMuLAroR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of theInvention This invention has to do with the continuous coiling of wireinto neat bundles of maximum density. The invention is particularlyuseful in the wire making industry wherein wire is formed by drawingmachines operating on appropriate rod material. Such wire may beaccumulated directly or first subjected to other finishing operations.

2. Description of the Prior Art Although no search of the prior patentart relating to this invention has been made, some of the apparatus andmethods heretofore used for coiling wire in bundles are known. Suchexisting escapement means are stationary and are mounted to the frame ofthe nonrotating dead block. A severe disadvantage of these priormechanisms is that the wire is not evenly fed into the accumulatingmechanism with the result that the coils so obtained are uneven indensity and appearance. The wire often piles up on the dead block andthen slips in batches onto the accumulating mechanism. By reason of thisthe surface of the dead block is often damaged.

The objects and the advantages of the instant invention are to providemore positive control of the wire so as to achieve uniform coil bundles,to reduce damage to the surface of the dead block, to prevent slippageand piling, to reduce the chance of injury to an operator, and to cutdown maintenance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Wire from any suitable source is paid onto anonrotatable dead block. A number of rings of the wire is closely woundover about one-half the length of the dead block. These rings eventuallyabut a pay-off roller which contacts the dead block. This roller rotateswith the flyer mechanism which places the rings of wire on the deadblock. Once the foremost ring has contacted the pay-off roller,continued rotation of the flyer feed mechanism and pay-off roller willresult in one revolution of the pay-off roller allowing one ring of wireto proceed by it on the dead block for the corresponding one revolutionof the flyer mechanism. Each such ring paid off by the pay-off rollerwill slide from the dead block onto the accumulator mechanism whereby toform continuously an optimum coil bundle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is side elevation, with partsbroken away, of a wire f feeding and coiling mechanism showing theinvention in operation, and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and detailed view, with parts in section and partsbroken away, of the pay-off roller mechanism generally depicted in FIG.1 and constituting the basic mechanism of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,particularly FIG. 1, wire handling apparatus, including the means forregulating' the escape of wire from a dead block onto an accumulator, isshown. A strand of wire 10 is shown as coming from the previousprocessing unit (not shown); as earlier indicated, such unit may be acontinuous coating line, a wire drawing machine, apparatus for finishinghigh carbon spring wire, or the like. This wire 10 enters along thecentral axis of a rotating shaft 11 and exits therefrom through anopening 12 provided in the wall thereof. Fixed to the shaft 11 forrotation therewith is a flyer arm 13. A bracket 14 is fixed to the flyerarm 13. A wire receiving roller 15 is rotatably mounted on the bracket14; it is customary for this roller 15 to be angularly offset withrespect to the rotating shaft 11. The wire 10 proceeds from the wirereceiving roller 15 onto the dead block 16. The dead block 16 ismaintained in fixed, non-rotatable position by suitable mechanism (notshown). A suitable counter-balance mechanism 17 is shown fixed to therotatable shaft 11 to compensate for the weight of member 13.

The dead block 16 tapers slightly from its wire receiving end 18 to itswire discharge end 19. The dead block 16 is substantially horizontal.Curved guide means extend initially horizontally from the discharge end19 of the dead block 16 and then turn vertically downwardly to aposition just above a suitable wire accumulating stand generallyindicated at 21. This stand 21 is conventional and is illustrated ascomprised of a pair of inverted, tubular U-shaped members disposed atright angles to one another and joined at their tops; these members 22may be fixed to a suitable base plate 23. The vertically disposed endsof the guide members 20 may be joined by a ring 24 or the like. Guidechains 25 suspended from the members 20, 24 serve to bridge the gapbetween the ends of the members 20 and the upper portion of theaccumulator 21.

All of the mechanisms 11 through 25 so far described are old,conventional and well known in the art. The invention, now to bedescribed in detail, resides in the provision of means whereby when theflyer mechanism 11 through 15 makes one revolution, thereby placing onering of wire 10 on the dead block 16, another ring of the wire 10 issimultaneously paid off from the batch of rings accumulated on the deadblock 16. In order to obtain the most efficient operation of thisinvention, it is desirable to have a number of rings of wire 10 closelywound on the dead block 16 throughout about half of the distance fromthe point 18 towards the point 19. One way of accomplishing this is toutilize a killer roll 26. At start-up the strand of wire 10 is fedthrough the orifice 12, around the pulley 15, around the dead block 16,around the killer roll 26 and back to the dead block 16; successiverings of wire will then build up in close fashion on the tapered deadblock 16.

A pay-off roller 27 is rotatably journaled on one end of an arm 28, theother end of said arm 28 being fixed to a shaft 29, 36 which is fixed tothe flyer arm 13. It will be noted, therefore, that the pay-off roller27 rotates with the flyer arm 13 and shaft 11. By reason of its journalmounting on the arm 28, the pay-off roller 27 rolls on the surface ofthe dead block 16. The payoff roller 27 is spring biased into continuouscontact with the surface of the dead block 16. In the embodimentillustrated, the killer roll 26 is shown as mounted on hollow shaft 36;it too, of course, will rotate about the dead block 16 along with theflyer arm 13 and payoff roller 27. Although the member 27 has beenreferred to as a roller, this is to point out that such member could bea pointer or non-rolling shoe. It is necessary, however, that the member27 rides on the block 16. A variation would be to provide a groove inthe block and have the member 27 ride in such groove below the surfaceof the block.

The successive rings of wire placed on the dead block 16 starting at thepoint 18 will eventually reach and abut the pay-off member 27.Thereafter, as the shaft 11 and flyer arm 13 rotate one revolution,thereby placing one more ring of wire on the dead block 16, the pay-offmember will also make one revolution, in this manner allowing one ringof wire to pay off. This, of course, is the very object and actionsought to be obtained by this invention. This wire escapement action ineffect involves revolving the pay off member around the block in suchmanner that the wire is screwed off the dead block 16 much like thethreads of a bolt would be screwed off the bolt, if the bolt were heldstationary, the threads were loose and the nut was revolved in astationary plane.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the mechanical construction of the novelpay-off roller apparatus is shown in greater detail. The pay-off roller27 is journaled on a threaded stub shaft 30 having a head 31; there aresuitable bearings (not shown) between the pay-off roller 27 and shaft30. A bearing retainer is indicated at 32. The shaft 30 extends throughan end of the arm 28 and is held thereon by a nut 33, a spacer 34 beingprovided between the pay-off roller 27 and the arm 28.

The other end of the arm 28 is fixed to one end of the shaft 29 which ispart of a system including the hollow shaft 36; in FIG. 2 this isindicated by welds 35 although other conventional means may be used. Theshaft 29 is shown as surrounded by a hollow shaft 36 mounted on abearing member 37 interposed between the hollow shaft 36 and shaft 29.Hollow shaft 36 is held to flyer arm 13 by set screws 43, or somesimilar means, so that there can be no relative motion between thisshaft and the flyer arm. The hollow shaft 36 may be threaded so as toreceive a nut 38 which retains the killer roll 26 on hollow shaft 36. Aspacer 39 is provided between the arm 28 and hollow shaft 36. Suitablebearings (not shown) are provided between the killer roll 26 and hollowshaft 36.

The biasing or tension means for insuring that the pay-off roller 27 ismaintained in continuous contact with the dead block 16 as it, the arm28, the shaft 29, 36 and the flyer mechanism 13 l rotate with the shaft1 1, is illustrated as comprising a torsion spring 40 suitably disposedabout the shaft 29 and hollow shaft 36. Suitable abutment means 41 and42 are provided for this torsion spring 40, the means 42 being fixed inthe shaft 29.

The pay-off member 27 should be manufactured from a material which issofter than that of the dead block 16 in order to prevent damage to thesurface of this block. There are many suitable plastics, rubbers,elastomers and the like which will suffice.

By way of brief summary, the rotating shaft 1 l and its flyer mechanism13-15 will place a number of successive rings of wire from the strand onthe dead block 16 until such time as the initial ring abuts the pay-offmember 27 which, in the preferred embodiment, is a roller. This pay-offroller 27 is, in effect, an escapement mechanism designed to allow onering of wire, and only one ring, to pay off from the dead block forevery ring of wire placed on the block after the initial group of ringshas been so placed in the manner just indicated. The spring biasedpay-off roller 27 contacts and rolls on the surface of the dead block 16so that as the flyer mechanism rotates one revolution to thereby placeone more ring of wire on the block, such pay-off roller 27simultaneously makes a similar revolution whereby allowing one ring ofwire to escape from it, down the remainder of the tapered dead block 16,onto the guide members 20 and thereafter to be continuously accumulatedin coil-bundle form on the accumulator 21. In this manner positivecontrol of the wire is achieved without slippage, bunching and damage tothe surface of the dead block, maintenance also being reduced,particularly in that an operator does not have to be concerned withbatches of wire rings accumulating and bunching on either the dead block16 or accumulator 21.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications maybe made in this invention without departing from the scope and spiritthereof and that while this invention has been described in certaindefinite detail, this is for purposes of illustration only and suchdetail is not to constitute a limitation on the invention except insofaras it is specifically set forth in the subjoined claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a wire accumulating apparatus which includes a vertically disposedaccumulating stand (21), a fixed non-rotatable horizontally disposeddead block (16), guide members (20) for directing rings of wire from thedischarge end of said dead block to the accumulating stand, a rotatingshaft (11), and flyer mechanism (13-15) fixed to said shaft for rotationtherewith, which shaft and flyer mechanism are disposed so as to receivea strand of wire (10) from a previous processing unit and placesuccessive rings of said wire on the wire receiving end of said deadblock, the improvement which comprises: a pay off roller (27) rotatablyjournaled on a member (28, 29) fixed to the flyer mechanism so that saidpay off roller makes one revolution about said dead block each time saidflyer mechanism makes one revolution, and a wire receiving killer roll(26) rotatably journaled on said member, said killer roll being disposedto receive wire initially placed on said dead block by said flyermechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on the said receivingend of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and said killer rollbeing mounted on shafts which are parallel to one another, said pay offroller contacting and rolling on said dead block intermediate the wirereceiving and discharging ends thereof, and biasing means (40-42)maintaining said pay off roller in contact with said dead block, wherebywhen successive rings of wire have been placed on said dead block to theextent that the initial ring so placed has contacted the pay off roller,continued rotation on the shaft and flyer mechanism through oneadditional revolution will place one additional ring of wire on saiddead block and the corresponding one additional revolution of the saidpay off roller will allow one ring of wire to pay off.

receiving end, and a wire receiving killer roll (26) rotatably journaledon said arm means, said killer roll being disposed to receive wireinitially placed on said dead block by said rotatable mechanism and tothereafter place said wire back on said receiving end of said deadblock, said pay off roller (27) and said killer roll (26) being mountedon shafts which are parallel to one another, and biasing means (40)urging said pay off roller into continuous contact with said dead block.

1. In a wire accumulating apparatus which includes a vertically disposedaccumulating stand (21), a fixed non-rotatable horizontally disposeddead block (16), guide members (20) for directing rings of wire from thedischarge end of said dead block to the accumulating stand, a rotatingshaft (11), and flyer mechanism (13-15) fixed to said shaft for rotationtherewith, which shaft and flyer mechanism are disposed so as to receivea strand of wire (10) from a previous processing unit and placesuccessive rings of said wire on the wire receiving end of said deadblock, the improvement which comprises: a pay off roller (27) rotatablyjournaled on a member (28, 29) fixed to the flyer mechanism so that saidpay off roller makes one revolution about said dead block each time saidflyer mechanism makes one revolution, and a wire receiving killer roll(26) rotatably journaled on said member, said killer roll being disposedto receive wire initially placed on said dead block by said flyermechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on the said receivingend of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and said killer rollbeing mounted on shafts which are parallel to one another, said pay offroller contacting and rolling on said dead block intermediate the wirereceiving and discharging ends thereof, and biasing means (40-42)maintaining said pay off roller in contact with said dead block, wherebywhen successive rings of wire have been placed on said dead block to theextent that the initial ring so placed has contacted the pay off roller,continued rotation on the shaft and flyer mechanism through oneadditional revolution will place one additional ring of wire on saiddead block and the corresponding one additional revolution of the saidpay off roller will allow one ring of wire to pay off.
 2. Means forregulating the escape of wire from a dead block to an accumulator whichcomprises a pay off roller (27), arm means (28, 29) fixed to rotatablemechanism (11, 13-15) for introducing successive rings of wire onto thereceiving end of said dead block in such manner that said arm meansrotates with said rotatable mechanism, said roller being rotatablyjournaled on said arm means, said arm means and said pay off rollerbeing disposed so that said pay off roller contacts and rolls on saiddead block away from said receiving end, and a wire receiving killerroll (26) rotatably journaled on said arm means, said killer roll beingdisposed to receive wire initially placed on said dead block by saidrotatable mechanism and to thereafter place said wire back on saidreceiving end of said dead block, said pay off roller (27) and saidkiller roll (26) being mounted on shafts which are parallel to oneanother, and biasing means (40) urging said pay off roller intocontinuous contact with said dead block.